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2016 Census is Here!

People will have started receiving their 2016 Census forms this week (starting May 2, 2016). Apparently, Canadians are so excited, that they crashed the census website.

What’s your census personality type?

The census is coming this May and that means Canadians from coast to coast to coast will once again be asked to sharpen their pencils, charge their tablets or answer the door, to participate. In other words, it will be time to complete the census questionnaire, either online, by mail or in person.

How and when you complete the survey – whether you jump at the chance right away or wait until the very last minute – may have something to do with your personality.

See yourself in any of these?

Conscientious keeners: Darn it if these folks don’t race to fill in the census the day the letter arrives from Statistics Canada, usually around May 2, and complete it online the very same day. These are the people who help give Canada its reputation as a well-mannered nation that takes its civic obligations seriously.

File-o-files: These are folks who get the letter in the mail, file it away either physically or mentally, and know that, yes, they’ll get to it within a week or so during the prime return dates, which are between May 2 and 15.

Eleven is their favourite hour: The only way to get these procrastinators to complete their census before the last deadline would be to first send the paper questionnaire and if that doesn’t work, send an Enumerator right to their door as of May 31. Actually, these last-minute filers are few in number considering that only 12.3 per cent of censuses are completed at the door. Most of us complete the census either online or by mail.

Seeing as Canada has one of the highest census return rates of any country (about 98 per cent, roughly the same completion rate as Australia), it’s clearly the case that Canadians have a strong sense of civic duty when it comes to completing the census – no matter what their personality type.

In the end, it all works out for the best because the information gathered every five years helps drive decisions about government programs and services for you, your family, your community and your work life as well.

Be a proud conscientious keener and complete your census questionnaire in early May! More information on the benefits of completing your census can be found online at www.census.gc.ca.